The present invention relates to round grain silos, especially damp grain, of the kind having a central bottom outlet opening and a mechanical or pneumatic conveyor connected thereto.
In agriculture the ripe grain harvested on a farm is these days often directly used on the farm itself e.g. for fattening pigs. Thus different proportions for mixing types of grain e.g. 25% oats and 75% barley or 50% barley and 50% oats, rye and wheat are seen as especially favorable for a fattening operation. If there are several round silos available, these types of grain which occur one after the other in combine harvesting at harvest time can be stored separately in such silos. The farmer is then in the position to be able to remove the individual types of grain via the central bottom outlets of the silos and then to mix and grind them in the desired proportion. Round silos are generally provided with a central bottom outlet due to the static layout of a round silo. Due to this bottom outlet the grain will trickle downwardly, forming a kind of central shaft over the entire height of the grain in the silo i.e. the grain in the silo will always discharge by trickling downwards from the upper surface of the grain which thus assumes a tubular formation with very thick "walls" of grain.
In small agricultural businesses with a pig fattening section or in smaller pig fatteners it is not possible to incur the extremely high investment for a number of round silos at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars so that these businesses must be satisfied with purchasing a single silo.
It is an object of the invention to provide means whereby a single round silo can be loaded with the types of grain which occur one after the other at harvest time, in a manner of speaking in layers one above the other and to be able to take the various types of grain from such layers, mixed in the desired ratio, from the silo.